Bottle stop mechanism for use with conveyers



BOTTLE STOP MECHANISM FOR USE WITH CONVEYE RS,

Filed Aprii a, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR3 H6 1/0/6 BY 9 H l/V, Mar [1/7 y 1949- Q I H. G. VORE ET AL I 4 2,475,865

BOTTLE STOP MECHANISM FOR USE WITH CONVEYERS Filed April 8, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 ORNEY July 12, 1949. I H. G. VORE ET'AL 2,475,865

BOTTLE STOP MECHANISM FOR USE WITH CONVEYERS Filed April 8, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 July 12, 1949. H'. G. VORE ET AL BOTTLE STOP MECHANISM FOR USE WITH CONVEYERS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 8, 1947 INVENTORS H- 6, Mare 5 W Mar zz'n BY RNEY Patented July 12, 1949 umrso. eras PATENT OFFICE B'CTT'ILE STGP MECHANISM FOR USE CONVEYERS Herbert aver-e, Forest Hills, and Harold W.

Martin, Mal'verne, N. Y., assignors to American Seal-Kan Corporation of Delaware, Wilming-. ton, Del-l, a. corporation of Delaware Applicatioi'i'April 8, 1947, Serial No. 740,182

2 Claims. (01. 198*34) This inventionrelates I to. bottle cappingina-- chines and more partlcularly to machines for fill-- inspecting station, the feed ot bottles may be interrupted until the operator'is ready toreceive more bottles.

Another object is toprovide :a device ofthe above type which automatieally .1 accommodates itself to bottles of various sizes;-

Another object is to provide a control gate for interrupting the' feed of bottlesalong the-con veyor, which is controllable by the operator a remote point.-

Various other objects," and advantages-- will be apparent as the nature of the inventionis more fully disclosed;

In accordance with the present invention a control gate is provided-in the form-Ora swinging arm having a cam-suriacetobe engaged by the container when the -arm-is swung into the path of the advancing container. The cam surface terminates in a shoulder-which engages the container and prevents theadvance thereof by the conveyor. The-cam surface is arranged to accommodate the gate to containers "of"various sizes. The arm-is; spring-biased into feed interrupting position,- but'is retractebleby a control linkage actuated by acontrol-handle at a re mote point which-is eonvenientlylocatedto the operator. I

Although the novel featuresWhich-arie char= acteristic of this invention are pointed outmore particularly inthe claima thenature of the invention will be better understood by referring to the following description; taken; connection with the accompanying drawingslzforming a part from thereof inwhieh aspeciflc embodimentof the invention has been: set forth- -forpurposes of illustration.

In the drawingst:

Fig. 1- isa top'planviewiof a container fl'lllng Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the stop meciia's 2 nism on a larger scale taken from the filling machine side of the conveyor v Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the 'stop' n1echanism of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3; 7

Figs. 5 and 6 are top plan-views of the'stop mechanism showing different positions of the gate;

Fig. '7 is a partial plan view similar to Fig. '2', but illustrating the stop mechanism as actuated by a solenoid;

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the manual control mechanism; 7

Fig. 9 is a top plan View of the manual control mechanism of Fig. 8; I I

Fig. 10 is a horizontalsection taken on-the line Ill -l0 of Fig. 8; and V Fig. 11 is a vertical transverse section taken along the line I I'I I of Fig. 8a

Referring to Fig. 1 more ind'etail, the" invention is shown for illustration as applied to'a filling and capping machine ofthe type shown in the Goodwin et a1. Patent No. 2,375,163 dated July 27, 1943 which includes in'general anem-pty container conveyor I5 for feeding empty con tainers for filling and capping to the machine, a filling turret Hi to which the containers are fed from the conveyor l5 by means of sister wheel IT, a cap-applying station lll'at which caps are applied to the filled containers, a capping turret 36] having capping heads for contracting the cap skirts about the necks oftlie containers for sealing, and a star wheel 31 feeding the capped containers to a filled containerconveyor 32 which leads to an inspection 'and loading platform 34. An operator stands near the-platform 34 and manually places the containers cases carried on a case conveyor 35.

The-caps are supplied to thec'ap applying sta tion IQ from a cap" magazine ZITby picker mechanism 2 2 which is actuatedinresponsetc a switch 23 controlled by a container-actuated amit and feeds th'ecaps' to a conveyor l2lterminating atthe station IS. A pluralityof stacks are successively brought into registration" with a magazine 20 by means of a turret zfi'.

Inasmuch as the details of tl i'e" filling and capping machine form no-partor the presenti-nven-- tion only so much thereon has been" disclosed herein as is necessaryto an understanding of this invention.

It'frequen'tly' happens in the operation of macl iinesof thistype that tnecanneu containers ac;" minaret-er: on the :irrspeenen netrdrn n rasterthan they can be removed. and placed in cases by the operator. When this occurs it is necessary for the operator to stop the machine temporarily. However, starting and stopping the machine is a time-consuming operation and in the case of machines of the type above referred to in which the caps are applied to the containers with a heated thermoplastic sealing compound on their skirts, stopping the machine with bottles and caps in transit therethrough results in a number of improperly capped containers which must be returned for recapping.

In order to overcome this difiiculty the present invention provides a gate in the form of a swinging arm 40 which is mounted to register with the advancing containers on the conveyor in the manner to be described. This arm 46 is shown in Fig. 1 as actuated by a link 4! which in turn is controlled by a handle 42 conveniently located to the operator at the inspection table 34. The arrangement is such that by actuation of the handle 42, the operator may stop the incoming containers at the gate 40 while allowing the machine to continue operating so that any containers in transit in the machine at the time are capped and delivered to the table 34. When the operator is ready to receive more containers, the gate 48 is released by actuation of the handle 42 to again admit containers to the filling and capping machine.

Referring to Figs. 2 to 6, the gate 49 is shown as mounted on a pin 45 which is pivoted in a bracket 46 attached to the frame 41 carrying the conveyor I5. The pin 45 carries at its lower end an arm 50 which is connected to the link 4! by a yoke 5!. The arm 5!! is biased to the container stopping position by means of a spring 52 which is attached to a fixed bracket 53. The gate 40 is provided with a cam surface 55 which is adapted to be engaged by a container 58 on the conveyor IS. The cam surface 55 terminates in a shoulder 51. The cam surface 55 is designed at such a slope that when it is engaged by a container 56, the arm 40 is cammed outwardly by the container until the container engages the shoulder 5'7. Thereafter the shoulder provides a stop to limit further feed of the container 53 on the conveyor l5.

In Figs. 2, 5 and 6 square containers have been shown for purposes of illustration. It is to be understood, however, that the shoulder 57 is so designed that it will be actuated by round containers in the same manner.

The arrangement is such that when the link M is released spring 52 swings the gate 453 into the path of the advancing container on the conveyor I5 as illustrated in Fig. 2. In this figure a small container such as a pint milk bottle is shown on the conveyor l5. The container may be assumed to have any position across the conveyor. Whatever the position of the container 58, when the same reaches the cam surface 55 it is caused to slide over against the outer rail 59 of the conveyor. Thereafter the gate ail is cammed outwardly by the container until the container engages the shoulder 57 and is held thereby against further movement.

Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate the action of the gate for large size containers 60 such as quart milk bottles. Referring to Fig. 5 it will be noted that the gate 40 has been swung inwardly over the conveyor [5. When the container 60 reaches the cam surface 55 of the gate 40, the gate is cammed outwardly until the position shown in Fig. 6 is reached, whereupon the container engages the shoulder 57 and is brought to rest. It will be noted, therefore, that the gate may be operated without adjustment to accommodate various sizes and shapes of containers and in any case will cause the container to come to rest against the shoulder 51.

The manual control mechanism, including the handle 42, is shown in Figs. 8 to 11 as comprising an arm (H which is pivoted by a pin 62 to a plate 63 carried by the conveyor frame. The arm Bl carries a yoke 64 which is pivoted thereto by a pin 65 and carries the link 4|. The plate 83 is provided with a recess 66 to afford clearance for the yoke 64. At the upper end of the arm 61 a pawl 68 is pivoted by a pin 69. The pawl 68 is provided with a finger 10 which engages a detent 1| formed at the top surface of the plate 63. The end of the pawl 68 opposite the finger ill carries the handle 42.

In normal operation the arm 6| is moved to its right hand position as seen in Fig. 8 with the pawl finger l0 engaged in the detent H, thereby causing the arm 6| to actuate the link 4| and pull the gate 40 out of registration with the advancing containers on the conveyor l5. When the operator desires to interrupt the feed of the containers it is only necessary to press downwardly on the handle 42 thereby releasing the pawl fineer 10 from the detent II and permitting the arm El and the gate 40 to be swung into feed-interrupting position by means of the spring 52. When it is desired to release the gate 40 for restoring the advance of the containers, the handle 42 is pulled to the right and upwardly as seen in Fig. 8 thereby restoring the arm 6| to its right hand position and engaging the pawl finger It! in the detent H. The gate 40 is thus pulled out of the path of the containers against the tension of the spring 52 and the containers are released for feeding by the conveyor 1 5.

In the modification shown in Fig. 7 the arm 50 is shown as connected to a link 80, connected to a solenoid 81 which is arranged to bring the arm 48 out of feed-interrupting position when the solenoid BI is energized. A suitable electric circuit (not shown) may be connected to a switch located conveniently to the operator for de-energizing the solenoid 8| when it is desired to interrupt the bottle feed.

Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown for purposes of illustration, it is to be understood that various changes and adaptations may be made therein as will be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art. The invention is only to be restricted in accordance with the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A container stop mechanism to interrupt the advance of containers on a conveyor, comprising an arm pivoted to swing about a vertical axis with its free end extending toward the advancing containers, said free end having an inclined cam surface terminating in a shoulder shaped to en" gage and hold said container against further advance, a spring urging said arm into stop position, said cam surface being shaped to engage and position the advancing container against the side of said conveyor opposite said arm and then retract said arm to accommodate the size of the container until the container is brought to rest against said shoulder, and remote manual retractor means connected to normally hold said arm retracted from the path of the containers, said manual means being releasable to allow said spring to advance said arm into stop position.

5 6 2 A container stop mechanism as set fortn in REFERENCES CITED 01mm. 1 in whxch the manual retractor compnses apivot-ed lever, alink connecting said lever to said The following referenlces are of record n the arm, a. latch on said lever to hold said arm refile Of i P nt: tracted and a manual control to release said latch. 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS HERBERT VO'RE. Number Name Date HAROLD MARTIN 2,245,659 Everett June 1'7, 1941 2,403,673 Mead July 9, 1946 

